


Debriefing

by Jestana



Series: Life and Death [6]
Category: RED (2010)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-02-14
Updated: 2011-02-14
Packaged: 2017-10-15 15:51:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,537
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/162428
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jestana/pseuds/Jestana
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>What do they do now that it's over?</p>
            </blockquote>





	Debriefing

**Author's Note:**

> Beta by unicorn_catcher on LJ. Rating for references to gunfire and naughtiness. This is the last part of the series.

**Debriefing**

  
Michelle stood in the doorway of the guest bedroom, watching her husband as he carefully tucked their children into bed. The hot, filling dinner had made both children drowsy and Ms. Winslow, who apparently owned the house, had shown them the guest bedroom so they could put them to bed. Kissing Tabitha's forehead one last time, William stood up and joined Michelle in the doorway. She wrapped her arms around his waist and simply clung to him, breathing in his scent gratefully. He wound one arm around her shoulders as he used the other to pull the door shut. Her voice ragged, she whispered, "I worried that we'd never see you again."

"I worried about that, too," he murmured, kissing her forehead. "But I decided that that was _not_ going to happen, so that's when I came to Frank and his friends."

She looked up at William curiously as they started down the hall to the stairs. "Why did you go to him, of all people? He threatened to kidnap us just a few months ago, you know."

"Yes, I'm aware of that, but the FBI wasn't getting anywhere and I couldn't think of anyone else to turn to," he explained gently, stroking her cheek with the tips of his fingers. "Besides, it was an empty threat. He told me himself he didn't intend to actually follow through on it."

Michelle shook her head slightly, catching his hand with hers and frowning in puzzlement. "So why did he make the threat to begin with?"

"We had Sarah in our custody and he wanted to ensure that we would treat her well," William told her as they descended the stairs. "It worked and I learned that I was being used to tie up someone else's loose ends."

Pushing back a strand of hair, she frowned even more. "I don't understand."

William led her into the living room, where Ms. Winslow, Mr. Simanov, Miss Ross, and Mr. Moses were already gathered. "Everyone here except Sarah is a former agent. Victoria, Frank, and Marvin in particular are former CIA and their files were stamped R.E.D."

"Red?" Michelle repeated, sitting down in the chair her husband indicated. "What does that stand for?"

Leaning against the back of the chair, William informed her, "Retired, extremely dangerous. They were part of a mission in Guatemala in '81 where they cleaned up a mess made by someone else, with assistance from Alexander Dunning."

"I know that name!" Michelle glanced at each of the others. "The kidnapper kept going on about how Dunning was his mentor and he wanted revenge for his death."

She watched the others exchange significant glances, and Michelle wondered if this was the first indication they'd had of why she and her children had been kidnapped. Clearing his throat, her husband told her, "For whatever reason, Dunning decided recently that the agents who'd been part of that clean-up needed to be killed."

"The reason was a New York Times reporter," Mr. Moses told William, from where he and Miss Ross shared one loveseat. "She did some digging into that mess and dug down too far. Dunning decided she needed to be silenced, permanently, and the rest of us as well."

Her William nodded, sliding his hand down to rest on her shoulder. "Right. Anyway, Dunning used the CIA to kill the agents until Frank, Marvin, and Victoria were the only ones left alive. They told me the truth of the situation and I decided to work with them to ensure that Dunning's influence was eliminated."

"Though it seems not completely," Mr. Simanov contributed from where he and Ms. Winslow shared the other loveseat. "He knew Marvin killed Dunning even though you didn't say anything in your report and we were the only ones who left there alive."

William nodded, his jaw hardening in a look Michelle knew well. "I know and I'll look into that once my emergency leave is over."

"Did he tell you what we learned while figuring out how to rescue you and your kids?" The question came from Mr. Boggs as he entered the living room from the kitchen, a plate of cookies in hand.

Michelle raised her eyebrows as the others reacted with various mixtures of exasperation and annoyance. She looked up at William curiously. "What on earth is Mr. Boggs referring to?"

"Marvin has a habit of researching everyone he associates with," Miss Ross explained as the man in question sat down in the chair by the door, munching on cookies. "Since he didn't know anything about William, he looked into his background."

William drew a chair close, blue eyes intent on hers. "He found my adoption papers and found out who my birth parents are."

"Who are they?" Michelle asked, surprised and curious about who could have given birth to her husband.

He indicated with one hand as he spoke, "Victoria and Ivan."

Wide-eyed, she turned to look at the older couple. He was smiling calmly and reassuringly while she met Michelle's gaze with a calm determination. "Why didn't you two raise him yourself?"

"It's a complicated story," Ms. Winslow replied. "I gave William up for adoption to protect him from the enemies I'd made while working for MI6. Given what just happened to you and your children, it seems it was a wise decision."

She looked at Mr. Simanov, puzzled. "You _let_ her give your son up for adoption?"

"I had no say, Mrs. Cooper," the older man told her. "We'd been forced apart by then. We have only recently been reunited."

Michelle watched them look at each other with warm smiles and share a soft kiss and smiled faintly herself. They were sweet together. William gently cupped her cheek with one hand and drew her attention back to him. "Not only did Marvin find out who my birth parents are, he also found that I had a twin sister."

"Miss Ross?" Michelle hazarded a guess, glancing at the other young woman.

The brunette nodded, smiling warmly. "Yep! I didn't know I was adopted until Marvin dropped the bomb on us a few days ago."

"This is all a bit much." Michelle rubbed her temples, glancing at her husband beseechingly.

William leaned forward to rest his forehead against hers. "I've already discussed this with Ivan, Victoria, and Sarah. They would very much like to be part of our lives as family, but they'll let _us_ decide if that's what we want." He kissed the tip of her nose. "You've been through a lot recently, though, so why don't we go to bed so you can sleep on it and decide what you want tomorrow?"

"Yes, that's probably the best idea," Michelle murmured, stroking his cheek. "I'm feeling quite exhausted now."

Her husband took her hand in his and gently tugged her to her feet. "Come with me. There's a nice soft bed with our names on it upstairs."

Michelle gladly leaned against William as he guided her from the room and up the stairs. She was so tired that she barely registered any surprise that a set of pajamas, likely belonging to Miss Ross--her sister-in-law!--was waiting for her. She simply changed into them and all but fell into bed. When she felt William slip under the covers with her, she snuggled into his arms gladly and fell asleep to the sound of his heartbeat under her ear.

* * *

  
Mid-morning the following day found Victoria seated alone at the big kitchen table, tea at hand as she flipped idly through a magazine. The sound of footsteps on the stairs attracted her attention and she looked up when William and Michelle, looking freshly-showered and dressed, appeared in the kitchen doorway, hand-in-hand. "Good morning. I hope you two slept well?"

"Good morning," William hesitated, glancing at his wife. The younger woman looked at Victoria for a moment, and then back at her husband, nodding slightly. A faint smile curving his lips, he looked at the older woman. "Mom."

Tears sprang immediately to Victoria's eyes as the implication of that single word hit her. Smiling, she stood up and moved around the table to hug her son tightly, grateful that they have _this_ time at least. "You've no idea how it feels to hear you call me that."

"I might have some idea," he replied with a wry chuckle, returning her hug. "Just have to think of giving up Matt and Tabby the way you did me and Sarah."

After a moment of hesitation when Victoria turned from William to Michelle, the younger woman opened her arms with a tentative smile. Returning the smile, the older woman hugged her daughter-in-law. Returning the hug, Michelle added, "I don't know if I could have given up my children the way you did, Ma'am."

"Victoria, please," she corrected as she ushered the couple over towards the table. "I'm not the queen and I never will be."

Once the two were seated, the older woman turned to pour coffee for them. "Speaking of the children, where _are_ they?"

"Playing hide-n-seek with Frank, Sarah, and Marvin," Victoria told them, placing coffee cups in front of them, as well as a sugar bowl. Going to the 'fridge, she pulled out creamer and milk. "Ivan had to go to the consulate today. A problem came up that required his presence."

While Michelle added creamer and sugar to her coffee, William drank his black. "We'll have to go to D.C. ourselves today. There'll be all kinds of paperwork to be filled out, especially since we pretty much went behind the FBI's back."

"I understand." Victoria pulled out the croissants that she'd been keeping warm in the oven and piled them onto a platter, setting them in front of the couple. "That's one thing I never miss: all the paperwork that goes with the job."

William chuckled softly as Victoria set several flavors of jam and jelly on the table, as well as butter, cream cheese, and, of all things, peanut butter. "You'll get no arguments from me on that."

"Peanut butter?" Michelle asked, picking up the jar and staring at it incredulously. Unruffled, William chose a particularly large croissant, accepting the plate and knife Victoria offered him.

Victoria nodded as her daughter-in-law set down the jar and chose a croissant of her own, spreading cream cheese on it. "Yes, Sarah is particularly fond of peanut butter and puts it on just about everything."

"At least she doesn't suspect everything is poisoned the way Marvin does," William offered, spreading grape jelly on his croissant.

She shrugged as she resumed her seat and took a sip of her tea. She grimaced when she realized it'd gone cold. "We all have our little idiosyncrasies." Getting up to fix herself another cup of tea, she commented conversationally, "By the way, I have a twin sister of my own I'd like to introduce you to once you feel up to it."

When she turned back to the table to sit down with her fresh cup of tea, William was staring at her with wide eyes. "There's _two_ of you?"

"Yes, Emily is the head of the Linguistics Department at the University of Maryland," Victoria explained, flipping through the magazine.

Surprisingly, it was Michelle who responded, her voice full of disbelief. "Wait, Dr. Emily _Appleton_ , is your twin?"

"Do you work at the university?" Victoria asked in reply, glancing at her daughter-in-law over the tops of her reading glasses.

Michelle nodded. "I work in the academic records office, so I've met Dr. Appleton." After a moment's thought, she added, " _That's_ why you look familiar! You two are identical!"

* * *

  
"I now pronounce you man and wife. You may kiss--you couldn't wait a few seconds?!" The wedding guests tittered as the bride and groom continued to kiss for several more moments. When they finally pulled apart, the priest announced, with some exasperation, "I present to you Mr. and Mrs. Ivan Simanov."

Just as the newly-married couple turned to face their guests, all of them applauding loudly, gunfire broke out over the seated guests' heads. Both Victoria and Ivan went down, but her corset was bulletproof and he wore a matching vest under his tuxedo. Getting into crouches, they hurried to shelter behind a column. Ivan pulled a gun out from under his jacket while Victoria pulled one out of the thigh holster hidden under her sheath dress. She'd deliberately chosen a short wedding dress just in case this happened. Exchanging nods, they dodged out from behind the column to fire a couple rounds at the masked men over the heads of their wedding guests, most of whom were either flat on the floor or returning fire as well. They dodged back behind the column, catching their breath. "At least we got through the ceremony itself."

"I told you we should have just eloped," Victoria retorted without any real anger. Even though eloping would have been more practical and efficient, she had to admit that having an actual ceremony, with all of their friends and family there to witness the final fulfillment of their years of longing and waiting, had been very beautiful and wonderful.

They dodged out from behind the column again, raking the masked men with their gunfire. When they sheltered again, Victoria checked her gun. She was out of bullets and she didn't have any more with her. Holstering it, she reached under Ivan's jacket and, just as she'd expected, found a second gun holstered there. Unsnapping the holster, she withdrew the gun and checked it quickly. "Hey! That's mine."

"We're husband and wife now," she reminded him with a smirk. "What's yours is mine."

His blue eyes twinkled with amusement as he drew her close for a quick, searing kiss. "Ja ljubov' ty, ZAychik moy."

"Let's deal with these idiots first, Teddy Bear." She stroked his cheek lovingly.

He nodded and they dodged out again, only to realize that there was no one left to kill. Lowering their weapons, they looked around the room to see it riddled with bullet holes. Surprisingly, no one was seriously hurt. William approached them as their guests began to either get to their feet, shaken, or check their weapons and each other for injuries. "Why don't you two head to the reception? I'll handle things here."

"You're sure?" Ivan asked as he holstered his guns. Even as he spoke, his hand sought Victoria's, his large thumb pressing against the pulse point on her wrist. "Won't you need to take our statements or some such nonsense?"

William grinned, glancing from his father to his mother and back again. "Nah. There're enough people here that two less statements won't matter."

"Come on, Ivan." Victoria tugged on his hand, eager to get him alone. "Let's not look a gift horse in the mouth."

After a moment's pause, Ivan grinned and exited the church with Victoria. Their limo was waiting for them and they ducked inside it. The moment the door closed behind them, Ivan pulled his wife into his arms for a hungry kiss. She melted into it with a moan and a sigh. _Just like when we were agents. I think this marriage is off to a smashing start..._

 **End**


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